Two years after being named Principal at DCHS, Dr. Kathy Bryant is transferring to another position in the school system.
Director of Schools Patrick Cripps has announced that Dr. Bryant will be taking over from Lisa Cripps as Supervisor of Instruction for grades 6-12. She will be working out of the central office. Lisa Cripps recently announced her retirement.
Director Cripps has not yet named a new Principal for DCHS but that announcement is expected soon.
Dr. Bryant, who served as assistant principal at DCHS for three years before succeeding Patrick Cripps as principal in 2015, told WJLE Thursday that while she enjoyed being principal, the supervisor position is one she has always had her heart set on.
“ I loved the experience of being the high school principal. It was by far the most challenging that I have ever done in my career but I also learned the most. I absolutely loved the high school students and I loved working with the teachers there. We had a great work family. But being Supervisor of Instruction has been my lifelong goal. Its something I have always wanted to do. I wanted to be more involved at the district level. I have a special interest in elementary school. That’s where I started. I have also been at the middle school and at the high school. I can bring those experiences to all those grades. I will still be working with the high school and the middle school as well as grades 6 to 8 at DeKalb West. I am looking forward to this new venture. It’s going to be a learning curve for me again but I am up for the challenge,” Dr. Bryant said.
“I am excited about her taking this position. Dr. Bryant is very intelligent. She is progressive thinking. She will bring a lot to the office. Right now she is having to juggle two different positions. It will make it easier on her once we name a principal at the high school,” Director Cripps told WJLE.
After earning her B.S. degree in Interdisciplinary Studies at Middle Tennessee State University in 1996, Bryant received a Masters Degree in Instructional Leadership at Tennessee Tech in 2008 and then an Ed.S. degree in Instructional Leadership at Tennessee Tech in 2010. She recently earned her Doctorate Degree of Education in Instructional Leadership from East Tennessee State University.
“I defended my dissertation in March after working on it for eighteen months and I graduated in May. I did this completely on –line although there were times I had to go to Johnson City to defend my proposal but most everything was on-line. All my classes. I even did Saturday classes sometimes on-line and worked a lot at night,” said Dr. Bryant.
Dr. Bryant began her teaching career in 1996 at Coffee County’s Hillsboro Elementary School and at North Coffee Elementary School. “My first job was in Coffee County. I taught at two different schools. I taught third grade and fifth grade Title I Reading and Math. My days were split. I would travel at lunch to a different school. My second year I was also at Coffee County and I taught fourth grade permanently at one of the schools where I was teaching,” she said.
Dr. Bryant then located to Memphis where she taught at Brookmead Elementary School before becoming director of the Sylvan Learning Center in Memphis. “I moved to Memphis. I met my husband. He was from Memphis. I taught half a year at Brookmead Elementary and then I was asked to be the Director of Sylvan Learning Center so I took that position. Then I came back home in 1999. I wanted to start a family. I taught fifth grade and then I moved to fourth grade at Northside Elementary School before becoming Assistant Principal at DeKalb Middle School in 2011,” said Dr. Bryant.
A year later, she went to DCHS to become an Assistant Principal along with Assistant Principal David Gash and Principal Patrick Cripps.
“I come from a family of educators. My grandmother was a teacher. My great grandmother was a teacher. Of course my dad (Aubrey Turner, Jr.) was an educator. He was Director of Schools here for sixteen years,” she said.
Dr. Bryant and her husband Neal are the parents of three sons.
Archived News & Obituaries